Photo: Missvain · CC BY 4.0Fairfield’s household incomes are higher than in 78% of U.S. towns
For a town this walkable, transit is thin: about 3.6 trips an hour at the evening peak near the typical resident, next to 3.2 in Vallejo. Below the poverty line: 10.2% of residents, next to 12.0% across California. Jobs and income earn Fairfield B; getting around on foot earns it A−.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
Inside Fairfield’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Fairfield is better than 58% of U.S. towns, #422 of 847 in California. Household income holds Fairfield’s grade up ($101,895, U.S. $80,734); unemployment pulls it down (5.8%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on job access by car.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Fairfield could be anywhere from B− to B+.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 38,991 residents head out to work, 9,420 work right here, and 29,437 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (0.80 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
6% of working residents work in Vacaville
Where Fairfield clocks in
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
68% of the jobs in Fairfield pay over $3,333 a month
38,857 jobs are based in Fairfield.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Fairfield, 2013 → 2023: 33,565 → 38,857. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Fairfield’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Each way, about 31 minutes from Fairfield
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 9.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Fairfield workers work from home, vs 17% across California. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 48,413 commuters (the 12% who work from home are left out). Across California: 79% drive alone, 3% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Miles to work from Fairfield
About 16% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
In Fairfield, walking beats the bus
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Fairfield is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns, #358 of 847 in California. The street layout scores higher than the way people actually get to work: 3.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, below the 7.1% across California.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 54,780 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 64% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 22% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 3.6 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 79% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 4.8% of Fairfield households have no vehicle (California 7.1%, U.S. 8.4%). 1% of Fairfield’s commuters take a bus or train.
These are town averages; neighborhoods differ.
Out of 334 U.S. towns of 86,000 to 165,000, Fairfield comes 176th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Jordan UT | 87,614 | $134K | 3.7% | 2.4% | 10% | A+ |
| 2 | Carmel IN | 105,634 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| 3 | Clay Township IN | 104,932 | $142K | 3.9% | 2.7% | 23% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Berkeley CA | 121,911 | $108K | 17.3% | 5.6% | 21% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 23 | Sunnyvale CA | 156,577 | $186K | 5.8% | 4.5% | 14% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 38 | San Ramon CA | 86,209 | $196K | 4.4% | 5.2% | 10% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 174 | South Fulton GA | 112,820 | $82K | 9.1% | 7.2% | 5% | B |
| 175 | Kent WA | 134,871 | $92K | 10.8% | 7.0% | 15% | B |
| 176 | Fairfield CA | 122,489 | $102K | 10.2% | 5.8% | 19% | B |
| 177 | Metairie LA | 139,729 | $73K | 12.5% | 4.6% | 25% | B |
| 178 | Sterling Heights MI | 133,931 | $80K | 11.1% | 6.1% | 12% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 334 | Macon-Bibb County GA | 157,556 | $51K | 24.7% | 8.1% | 53% | D |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Fairfield, the top three, the last and three more from California.
Next door to Fairfield
The biggest share goes to Vacaville (6%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Fairfield workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairfield | – | B | A− | 31 min | $101,895 |
| Suisun City | under 2% | B− | B+ | 32 min | $94,787 |
| Green Valley | under 2% | A− | D | 28 min | $142,000 |
| Vacaville | 6% | B+ | A− | 28 min | $111,126 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Fairfield’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Fairfield: questions
What is the median household income in Fairfield?
$101,895 (±$3,112) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $99,122 across California and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Fairfield?
10.2%, against 12.0% across California and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Fairfield?
31 minutes each way on average, against 29 across California and 26 nationally. 12% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Fairfield work?
19% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Vacaville (6%, 8 mi), San Francisco (6%, 40 mi), Napa (4%, 15 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Fairfield walkable?
Fairfield is more walkable than 83% of U.S. towns (Walkability A−): an EPA walkability index of 11.0 out of 20, and 4% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Fairfield without a car?
1% of commuters take transit and 5% of households have no car. 22% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Fairfield, from the people who make the trip.
More of Fairfield
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.